1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the measurement of solid propellant fuels. More particularly, this invention pertains to an apparatus for measuring the burning rate of solid propellants in a controlled environment. By way of further characterization, the invention will be described as it relates to an apparatus for the determination of the burning rate of solid propellants.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The measurement of burning characteristics of solid propellants is a vital part of the design of rocket motors. In the past, the burning rates have been measured by burning carefully machined samples of the propellant in a tube and using the volume of the propellant to tune the tube such that acoustic measurements are indicative of the dimensions of the burning sample. An example of this technique is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,485 issued on Oct. 13, 1970 to Frank G. Buffum, Jr. et al. for "Method and Apparatus for Determining the Accoustics of Rocket Motor Chambers". It is also known to use electrical energies to tune the combustion chamber where the propellant is a dielectric in a waveguide system which is tuned by the consumption of the burning propellant.